Deformation history during chain building deduced by outcrop structural analysis: The case of the Sicilian fold-and-thrust belt (Central Mediterranean)

Abstract The Sicilian fold-and-thrust belt is located in the central Mediterranean area, and it represents the south-eastern arcuate segment of the Apennine-Maghrebide orogen. The tectonic evolution of the Sicilian belt is documented after outcrop analysis of small-scale structural features carried out throughout the region. Results are consistent with the following four main deformation stages having affected the study area, from the oldest to the youngest: (i) multilayer weakening; (ii) folding-and-thrusting, (iii) extension, and (iv) renewed thrusting. The first deformation stage included three different substages (layer-parallel shortening, bed-parallel simple shear and fold nucleation)…

Sedimentary basins evolution and olistoliths formation: The case of Carpathian and Sicilian regions

Abstract Comparative research carried out within two different basins, one in the Carpathians of Poland (Late Jurassic to Early Miocene) and another in the Apenninic-Maghrebian mountain chain of Sicily (Triassic-Miocene), indicate significant similarity not only in their evolution but also in the sedimentary features of horizons with olistoliths. The olistolith-bearing units are genetically related to stages of tectonic evolution and are independent of the size of the basins and of duration of these stages. However, the observed differences in composition and size of olistoliths suggested, among the others relationship with the size of source areas and thickness of their sedimentary cover.

Tectonic evolution of the Sicilian Thrust System (central Mediterranean)

The Sicilian Thrust System (STS) is a south-verging (Africa-verging) fold-and-thrust belt including a Mesozoic-Paleogene sedimentary sequence. This thrust stack owes its origin to the deformation of pre-orogenic strata deposited in different palaeogeographic domains belonging to passive margins of the African plate. The STS was deformed during the Neogene, following the closure of the Tethys Ocean and the continental collision between the Sardo-Corso Block and the North Africa margins. The thrust pile was detached from the underlying basement during the Miocene-Pleistocene. The regional-scale structural setting recognized allows us to reconstruct the tectonic evolution of the STS as follows…

Lower pleistocene deposits in east part of the Favignana island, Sicily, Italy

Extensional deformations during Neogene chain building in Sicily

ABSTRACT In the Madonie-Nebrodi Mts (Northern Sicily belt) both Mesozoic carbonate platform/basin-derived deformed successions and Neogene foredeep deposits outcrop. Thrust sheets piled-up southwards in thin-skin piggy-back sequence. The chain building process began during the Oligo-Miocene. The syntectonic deposits involved in the compressional tectonics give evidence that syn-sedimentary extensional faults developed during fold nucleation and amplification. Syn-sedimentary extensional faults affect the foredeep strata at different stratigraphic levels, which are bounded by unconformities. Normal faults and bedding show constant cut-off relationships and are progressively tilted youngwards…